Letters to the Editors

Rounding up inflates our water bills

Editor: Well, here we go again with the Pasco commissioners beating the same old drum, water conservation.

How do they know if water is not being conserved?

Let's say you only use 500 gallons. Your bill will read 1,000 gallons. If you use 1,300 gallons your bill will read 2,000 gallons. The reason being they round the figures to the next thousand.

If the people would look at their usage each month and note it on a piece of paper to keep track, you will find that a household of one shows usage of 2,000 gallons a month, a household of two will be 4,000 gallons a month for 10 months running and the other two months will read 5,000 gallons.

Now just for the heck of it, let's say we shut off our water meter and draw no water at all. You will still get a bill for no usage. When you consider all the elements to steal our money, one would have to say if we did the same thing in our businesses we would be brought up on charges of grand larceny.

If the electric companies can bill us for actual usage why can't the water companies do the same?
-- Walden B. St. Germain, Hudson

Huge complexes waste water, create problems for taxpayers

Editor: Conserve water? Yes, I do believe in conserving our precious water resource. However, why is Commissioner Simon and the rest of his cohorts targeting Pasco residents to conserve water and pay more for it when you see fit to allow developers to build huge complexes of low-income housing (which, by the way, the taxpayer is subsidizing -- taking our hard earned dollars without representation)?

These huge complexes use thousands and thousands of gallons of water and, not to mention, create other numerous problems for our neighborhoods. It is outrageous and a colossal nerve on the part of our commissioners to ask the taxpayer to pay more taxes for water when they are wasting it on these projects.

It is time to protest at an upcoming hearing on this matter Tuesday, Feb. 20 in Dade City. It's time to make a big change the next time elections roll around.
-- Carolyn Tuffin, Port Richey

Low-income housing will deplete resources

Editor: Low-income housing projects are antithetical to a free enterprise, capitalistic form of government. The developers of these projects are being subsidized by county, state and federal tax dollars, and, although, the requirement to live in the project is low income, the rents are high.

There are three new low income/high rent projects our County Commission is considering. Two are on the west side at Regency Park Boulevard, near Embassy Boulevard, and on Little Road, near Ridge Road. The third is between Zephyrhills and Wesley Chapel.

Park Richey, the low-income housing project which was recently built on Embassy Boulevard near Little Road, has already recorded its first murder. Do we need two more nearby?

Especially, during this severe drought, it is incomprehensible that our County Commission is considering approval of high density, government subsidized housing projects to further deplete our critically low water resources at the same time they are raising our water/sewer rates so that we use less water.

I am told the County Commission will hold a hearing on these projects Tuesday, Feb. 20 in Dade City. Please attend the meeting if you can. Alternatively, write letters, sign and circulate petitions and call your county commissioners. If we don't act to stop our County Commission, the approval of these proposed low-income projects will be costly, not just in dollars, but also to our environment, our safety and the quality of our lives.
-- Margaret Renke, New Port Richey

Reader doubts greatness of "greatest generation'

Editor: Black only signs, blacks to the back of the bus, segregated housing and schools. The "greatest generation," accepted it and enforced it. The baby boom generation questioned it and changed it.

The politicians of the 1960s sent the greatest generation's sons to a war (the Vietnam War was not a declared war) that was immoral and unpopular. The greatest generation accepted it and enforced it. The baby boom generation, questioned it and changed it.

So, who is the greatest generation?
-- Mark Drebin, New Port Richey

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